TIME100 AI 2026 · Thinkers
Sanmi Koyejo
Co-founder, Virtue AI
He co-wrote the award-winning paper arguing that AI's sudden 'emergent abilities' can be a measurement illusion.
- Born
- Not published
- Now
- Co-founder, Virtue AI
- Studied
- University of Texas at Austin, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Interesting facts
- Connection
Is a founding member of Black in AI and has served as its board president since 2021.
csl.illinois.edu - Detour
Earlier work mapped how brain regions interact; his brain encoding and decoding maps were built into the public Neurosynth toolbox.
csl.illinois.edu - Turning point
Meta hired him and his Virtue AI co-founders in June 2026 for AI security, then parted ways with the team four months later.
startupfortune.com - Numbers
His startup's red-teaming platform tested AI models against more than 600 attack vectors and 1,000 risk categories.
startupfortune.com - In their words
Argues AI models should meet the same performance standards as clinical-trial biomarkers and audits.
time.com
Career
- MetaResearch Scientist, FAIR2026
- Virtue AICo-founder and Head of AI2024–2026
- Stanford UniversityAssociate Professor of Computer Sciencefrom 2022
- DeepMindResearch Scientist2018–2024
- University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignAssistant Professor2016–2021
- Stanford UniversityResearch Associate2014–2016
Education
- MS, PhD, Electrical engineering, University of Texas at Austin, 2013
- BS, Electrical engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, 2005
Sources1linkedin.com
